


Right Hand Man

by sipuli



Series: hhhhh i'm dream smp trash [3]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mostly Canon Compliant, Oneshot, Pogtopia Era, aside from a few things i changed for Plot Reasons, does this count as hurt/comfort?, if a shipper touches this with a five meter pole i will feed them to the red alien egg, just a disclaimer in case of creeps, secret meeting, tommy sneaks out to meet tubbo in l'manberg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28771596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sipuli/pseuds/sipuli
Summary: Tommy wants to see his former home one last time, so he sneaks out of Pogtopia to visit L'Manberg in the middle of the night - but he doesn't expect to run into an old friend. Is Tubbo his right hand man, or Schlatt's?
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Series: hhhhh i'm dream smp trash [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122566
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	Right Hand Man

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Oikea käsi](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28770885) by [sipuli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sipuli/pseuds/sipuli). 



> This is an older fic I wrote months ago when this plot was still somewhat relevant. I hope it's not completely forgotten yet.
> 
> About the timeline and canon: this happens shortly after Tommy and Wilbur team up with Techno after being exiled. This is a slightly altered AU where Wilbur never asked Tubbo to become a spy for them. In this version they haven't talked with Tubbo since they were exiled and still don't know if Tubbo has truly betrayed them or not.
> 
> I originally wrote this in Finnish and then later translated it to English. I think it lost some of its charm in translation, but I hope you can still enjoy it. ^^

It looks so different without the walls, Tommy thinks, seeing the silhouette of the city behind the hill. It looks bare. Defenseless. Tommy is so used to seeing L’Manberg surrounded by black and gold that he can barely recognize his former home.

Everything looks desolate in the pale moonlight. There’s only stone and dirt on the ground where the lofty walls once reached for the sky. Some of the houses have collapsed. There’s a new building at the edge of the square, a grey box made out of stone, resembling an office building of some sort. It looks conspicuously sad in the middle of all the greenery around it.

Tommy starts climbing down the hill, from shadow to shadow, avoiding the moonlight. The light of the full moon is like a floodlight in the pitch-black night. This probably isn’t the best possible night for sneaking around, Tommy thinks. But he had no other option. He just had to see his former home once more, he couldn’t have waited any longer. So he waited for Wilbur and Techno to fall asleep, climbed up the narrow spiral staircase from the ravine they used as a hiding place and started running. He ran and ran through the dark forest until the city lights were close enough to guide his way and then by then he was close enough to see what he was looking for.

By now Tommy is already almost at where the walls used to be. He dares to get a little bit closer, watches out for every rustle and noise, constantly ready to run if anyone notices him. He sneaks closer to the buildings of L’Manberg under the cover of the long, dark shadow cast by the silhouette of Eret’s tower. There are bushes close to the lake, offering him some cover, and that’s where Tommy decides to stay. Through the branches and leaves he can see the memorial jukebox on the other side of the lake… Tommy’s stomach feels funny. The secret entrance to Tubbo’s bunker is underwater right next to the memorial.

_ “I want you to find Tommy and I want you to show him the door.” _

_ “Yes, Mr. President.” _

No. Not here, not now, not like this. Head, shut up, stop this. Think about anything else. Tommy squeezes his hands into fists so hard that it hurts. He looks up to the sky, and just then the wind pulls the leaves of the bush to the side for a quick moment and he can see it. The charred piece of fabric up on the flagpole, torn up and tarnished. The flag. Niki’s flag.

They have burned the flag of L’Manberg.

“Tommy?”

Tommy’s heart skips a beat. Someone has seen him, followed him to the bushes and gotten close enough to recognize him. If the voice belonged to just some random minion of Schlatt, Tommy would either back out deeper into his hiding place or pull out his sword, ready to fight. But he can recognize this voice, he would recognize it anywhere. It’s the voice he should be able to trust unconditionally, but he can’t do that anymore. He can’t trust his best friend and it’s breaking his heart.

Slowly, with hesitation in his every move, Tommy pushes back the branches until he can see the face above him. It’s showing a mix of joy, confusion and fear.

“Tommy!” Tubbo is talking with quick and scared whispers. “What are you doing here? It’s not safe for you to come here. There’s people looking for you everywhere and Schlatt has put a prize on your head.”

“I had to”, Tommy answers with a defiant look on his face. He’s doing his best to sound like he’s not bothered like such a small thing as a search warrant. “What are you doing outside at this time?” He looks down from Tubbo’s face and scowls. Instead of the uniform, Tubbo is wearing a suit, a bit too big and wrinkled on the sleeves. “And what on earth are you wearing?”

“Oh, this”, Tubbo says, nervously fixing his tie. “We have a dress code now, Schlatt told everyone to wear these. I don’t like it, it’s itchy.” He looks up like he’s scared of someone spying on them before crouching back down. “Schlatt has put all of us on watch duty. He says you two will return to the crime scene eventually. We have to watch over this place day and night and report to him immediately if we see anything suspicious.”

Tommy is doing everything he can to keep his voice steady. “And are you going to…?”

The horrified look on Tubbo’s face is enough to answer the question. “No! Of course not. Never. Tommy, I’m on your side. Your and Wilbur’s. I swear on my life.”

The wave of relief is so strong that Tommy has to close his eyes for a second. Of course Tubbo hasn’t betrayed them, how could he even imagine something like that? Tommy never truly believed it, but once the seed of suspicion has been planted, it’s hard to weed it out. He opens his eyes and looks at Tubbo in a different way than a moment ago, with worry. There’s a kind of tiredness and fear on the boy’s face that Tommy isn’t used to seeing.

“What is it like here? Has Schlatt hurt you?”

Tubbo shakes his head. “It’s okay. I mean, things do really suck in here now, but I’m alright.” He goes silent for a moment and takes a deep breath. “Hey Tommy, about the election day. When everything went wrong.” Tommy can see how he’s fiddling with his cufflink, how he’s shifting his weight from one foot to another. “I just wanted to say -”

“Don’t.” Tommy signals Tubbo to be quiet with his hand. “You don’t need to explain anything. You did what you had to, you just wanted to survive. I get it. I probably would have done the same thing.”

“I was really scared”, Tubbo confesses. His hands are shaking. “You and Wilbur were running and I didn't know if I should go after you or not and then Schlatt told me to get on the podium and I really wanted to run but there were too many people and Punz still had the crossbow he shot at Wilbur with and I was too scared to do anything even though I could hear Niki yelling at me and asking why I’m doing as he says and -”

“Schlatt will pay for this”, Tommy interrupts. He can’t stand listening to Tubbo’s scared and apologetic voice. Tubbo, who’s usually always the most cheerful and brave of them. “He’s going to fucking pay for everything he’s done. We’ll make him pay, Tubbo, don’t you worry at all.”

Tubbo is about to answer but closes his mouth instead and signals Tommy to get deeper under the bush. Tommy really wants to peek outside his hiding place, but for once his instinct for self-defence is stronger than his curiosity and he retreats deeper behind the branches. Now he can hear them too, the footsteps that are quickly approaching along the shore. From here he can only see Tubbo’s legs as he quickly steps in front of the bush to give Tommy a little bit more cover.

“Tubbo! My loyal right hand man. How’s the nightly tour going?”

The voice is too familiar, it makes Tommy want to jump out and strange its source. The horrifying laughter from the election day is still echoing in his ears. Tommy bites his tongue and swallows the swears he wants to spit out.

“It’s going well, Mr. President.” Tubbo’s voice sounds a little bit higher than usual, but still surprisingly normal, given the situation. He’s a great actor.

The footsteps are getting closer and Tommy can now see another pair of legs in front of the bush. He holds his breath and tries to stay completely still.

“It’s a magnificent night, isn’t it?” Schlatt’s voice is dangerously soft. Can he hear the nervousness in Tubbo’s voice, can he see how he’s standing between Schlatt and the bush?

“It is, Mr. President. The moon is pretty.”

“It’s a good thing for us.” It looks like Schlatt is turning and looking around, even though it’s hard to tell when you can only see the legs. “All the sneaky people are easier to spot.”

Tubbo doesn’t answer. Tommy can see how his knees are trembling.

“You wouldn’t keep anything from me, right, Tubbo? My right hand man?”

Tommy can’t stand listening to this. He moves his head just a little bit, enough to see through the leaves. Schlatt’s hand is grabbing Tubbo’s shoulder, just a little bit too tightly.

“Of course not, Mr. President.”

For a moment Tommy is sure Schlatt will realize something is wrong. His hand is gripping the handle of his sword with white knuckles, his fingers trembling around the metal. But then Schlatt turns away and points at the remains of Niki’s flag. “Just wait until you see the new version of that. Fundy has designed a new flag for us, one that’s worthy of the great country of Manburg. It’s going to be revealed tomorrow.”   


“I can’t wait, Mr. President.” Tommy hopes Schlatt can’t hear the relief in Tubbo’s voice. They made it, Schlatt is just being paranoid and suspicious of everything.

They still wait for a long time until they feel like it’s safe to speak again. Only when Schlatt has disappeared far behind the buildings Tubbo stoops at Tommy and pulls back the branches. Tommy can only get one word out from his mouth.

“Manberg?”

Tubbo nods. “Tommy, a lot of things are different now.” He glances at the flagpole and wavers. “Fundy has completely lost his mind. He’s following Schlatt around like some kind of a damn lackey and praising his every action, he says it’s about time we have a president who actually does something. He…”

“He what?” Tommy finds it hard to believe Fundy would side with Schlatt. Okay, his morals have always been a little bit to the grey area, but he’s not  _ evil. _

Tubbo’s voice is painfully quiet. “He burned Niki’s flag, and you know how important it was to her, right? Imagine how she must be feeling. Especially because it was Fundy of all the people. Niki isn’t doing great, she’s the only one here who dares openly oppose Schlatt and she’s really in trouble because of it. Schlatt took almost everything from her bakery and said he was just collecting taxes. And I heard Quackity talking about building a prison. I have a feeling I know who they would put in there first.”

“We’ll get you out of there.” Tommy can’t fully mask the anxiety in his voice. “We’ll come and get you, and Niki too, you’ll get out to safety and then we can gather strength until we can attack and -”

“No.”

Tommy stops in the middle of the sentence, his mouth half open, and thinks he misheard. “What? What do you mean ‘no’?”

“You heard what he said, right?” Tubbo takes a deep breath, as if he’s trying to prepare for what he has to say next. “I’m his right hand man. For some reason he likes me, I don’t know what his reasons are, but I’m important somehow. He keeps me close and I hear things. I know some stuff before he tells anyone else about it. If I stay here I can be useful to you.” He smiles, trying to look cheerful and brave, like he’s not scared. “Like Hercules Mulligan! Right, Tommy? It’s gonna be exciting.  _ I take the information and then I smuggle it, I’m helping Tommy and Wilbur and I am lovin’ it… _ ” Tubbo is clumsily singing the song, trying to lighten the mood, but Tommy has just realized something horrifying and he can’t listen to Tubbo’s jokes as usual.

“This isn’t a stupid musical, Tubbo.” Tommy can’t shake his friend’s words from his mind.  _ He likes me, he keeps me close. _ Surely Schlatt knows that Tommy and Tubbo are inseparable, he has to know. Why would he want the best friend of his worst enemies as his right hand man? “Tubbo, please answer honestly.” Tommy looks at Tubbo with a look of terrible fear on his face. “Do you think you’re a hostage? For me and Wilbur?”

Tubbo has stopped smiling at Tommy’s sharp musical comment and now there’s not a trace of excitement left on his face. He opens his mouth, hesitates, really considers his words.

“I think that’s a part of it”, he finally says. “But I think he… I think it’s more just that he wants to hurt you guys. Through me. He wants you to think I’ve betrayed you. He wants you to not attack this place because you think you’d have to fight me if you did.” He stops for a second and Tommy can see him clenching his jaw, he looks more determined than before. “But he doesn’t realize he can’t control me however he wants. He thinks I’m just a stupid kid, he doesn’t think I can do anything on my own. But he is wrong. I fought Dream with you and I intend to fight him, too. Tommy, if there’s going to be a war, I will always and forever be your right hand man and not his.”

Tommy doesn’t know what to say. All this time he and Wilbur have been planning their rebellion together, and all this time Tubbo has been planning to help them. For all this time he’s been on their side, he has been ready to offer his help as soon as he can, he has known he has to decline if someone comes to help him because he knows he’s more useful if he stays here. He has endured Schlatt and all the horrible things that are happening around him and he has known he can’t escape even if he gets a chance. It must have been crushing. And Tommy had the nerve to suspect that he was…

“Try to get the word to us if you change your mind.” Tommy tries to find the right words, the ones that can help his friend and lighten his burden. “If you don’t want to do this anymore, even just a little bit, we’ll come and get you right away. I’m sure Wilbur will want to come help Niki anyway when he hears about this.” He’s silent for a moment and thinks about what to say. Then his face lights up, suddenly he knows how to give Tubbo the hope he needs. How didn’t he remember to tell it at the start? “Oh, right! One more thing. Don’t worry about us, we have an ace up our sleeve. It’s something that could actually change everything. And when the time to fight comes, Schlatt will shit his pants from fear. It’s going to be awesome.” Tommy stands up, he doesn’t want to crouch in a bush, he wants to be able to really see his friend. “I’ll give you one hint.” He stops for one breath of waiting. “Blood for the blood god.”

Tubbo’s eyes get wide from excitement. “No way. You’re joking.” The thought of fighting alongside the legendary warrior makes his face glow from joy. Tommy can almost see the rockets and fireworks inside his head. “Schlatt is done for. He has no chance against you. I wish I could…” Tubbo’s smile wavers, he tries to look brave and keep the happy look. “Say hi to Techno from me.”

Tommy didn’t think about it earlier, but now he realizes he has given Tubbo not only hope, but also a new reason for lament. He has to keep living in here and pretend to be Schlatt’s minion while Tommy and Wilbur get ready to fight with a living legend. How bad he must feel about it? Tubbo is brave, Tommy thinks, for doing this. If Tommy had to stay in a place like this, surrounded by enemies without an escape, he would be terrified. Tubbo must be, too, even though he’s not letting it show.

“Tubbo, don’t be scared. You’ll be fine.” Tommy tries to make his voice sound reassuring, even though he’s not even sure if he’s trying to comfort Tubbo or himself. The thought of leaving Tubbo here feels horrible. “You’re strong.”

“Don’t worry, Tommy.” Tubbo’s smile is warm and familiar and makes everything feel almost bearable. “I know.”

Tommy looks after him until he has disappeared behind the buildings. Only then he turns around and starts running.


End file.
